Jon Jost, Independent Film-maker - Last Chants for a Slow Dance

Jon Jost, independent film-maker. The early films7.one of Jost's long takes, we have ample time to
Last Chants for a Slow DanceTom of 'Last Chantsconsider why this should be. When Jost draws
for a Slow Dance' (1977) is one of those statistics;attention to colour, such as in his frequent shots of a
married, father of two, on the verge of divorce, andgirl applying make-up, it is nearly always to emphasise
unemployed. He is also a desperate human being,its artificiality, its capacity to distract and conceal. In
unable to cope with marriage, fatherhood, or steadythis scene the TV and the rest of the screen vie for
employment, and, in the eyes of society, aour attention. What is going on in the rest of the
misfit.Here, for the first time, Jost has created ascreen is really terribly bleak; Tom is having a
convincing character in a convincing situation. Themeaningless one-night-stand with a girl he has just
direct communication between film-maker andmet and doesn't care about, and in the morning he
audience has gone, or at least, taken a step back,will be gone.But what is happening on the TV screen
and the film presents us with a narrative in more oris depressing too; an audience-participation game
less the same way that other films present us with ashow, in which people's lives literally become merged
narrative. A deliberate hole, however, is left in thewith TV, and which, broadcasting its phoney spirit of
illusion; at the beginning of the film, before thecompetitive bonhomie, is nothing less than a
'character' speaks, we hear the actor say: "Shall Ibrain-washing exercise, designed to sedate its
start now? You said thirty seconds." In this, andviewers while instilling values favourable to
other ways, Jost reminds us that we are sitting in acapitalism.The whole scene is a depiction of
cinema watching a film, and therefore that anyemptiness disguised, and as such is a depiction of
meanings we perceive have been deliberately putTom's world, in which the distribution of values is out
there as a means of communication between himselfof balance with the needs of reality. Later in the
and us.'Last Chants for a Slow Dance' works partly asscene, when the girl walks in front of the TV, we
a psychological study, in that Tom's decline fromsee the coloured image of the screen superimposed
restless young man to murderer can be seen as aon her body. This betrayal of the illusion is Jost's way
function of his own maladjusted personality; we areof ensuring that we are not merely fascinated and
even given an indication of the origin of his problems:distracted by his trick photography.The turning point
"Everything goes so fast. I don't remember anything.for Tom comes after he has looked at a folder of
I don't remember my childhood, except that mycriminal records. Each page has a photo of the
father was always beating me, and I was alwayscriminal and a summary of his activities and
running away." Running away is all he learned to do ascharacteristics, including (the detail which fascinates
a child, and all he knows how to do as an adult. ButTom the most) his tattoos. In Tom's eyes these little
at the same time, Jost makes it clear that, whatever'stories', which situate their subjects in a recognisable
the reasons for Tom's maladjustment, it is cues fromrelationship to society, give meaning to their subjects'
society which prompt him to take the action he doeslives. And so he has found a last chance to give
take.Tom is already desperate when the film opens;meaning to his own life; by becoming a criminal he
in a society which places high value on employment,can become a story, in newspapers, on TV, and
material wealth, and family life, he is unemployed,preserved for posterity in police records.Jost only
broke, and alienated from his wife and children. Heinterpolates one 'montage' shot into the narrative, but
resorts to the only way of life he can cope with;it is one the viewer will never forget: suddenly we
driving around in his truck from town to town,are watching, in merciless close up, a live rabbit
ostensibly looking for work, but really seeking thehaving its head forced over a chopping-block. We see
comfort of anonymity, casual sex, and escape fromthe helpless look in its eye as it struggles, then it is
responsibilities.When Tom does return home it is onlydecapitated and we see the blood spurt. Then, one
to be harangued, and threatened with divorce, by hisby one, its paws are chopped from its still-twitching
wife, who is now pregnant for the third time. Shebody. That, Jost implies, is how much chance a man
verbally attacks him for his long absences fromlike Tom has against the coercive power of society
home, his failure to find a job, and his lack of concernand its media.Tom's final, irreversible act is even more
for her and the children. Her attack is justified, ofdisturbing than the slaughter of the rabbit. He comes
course, and she probably shouldn't have married himacross a man whose car has broken down in an
in the first place, but this is no help to Tom, whoisolated rural spot, and stops to help him. They chat,
cannot help the way he is, and no consolation for theand it turns out that the man comes from the same
society upon which he will take out his frustration. Ittown as Tom, and, like Tom, has a wife and children.
is Jost's view, and his case is convincing, that Tom isThey have something in common, but the man has
society's problem.Having been finally rejected by hiskept all the things Tom has lost, and for the first
wife, Tom hits the road again. He stops at a cafe,time we seem to be seeing Tom engaging in a
and while eating comes across an amusing letter in afriendly conversation, talking for the pleasure of
newspaper and reads it out to a man sitting next tocommunicating.But just when we begin to think he
him. The letter is a sexual joke, and the man says:might be human after all, and that this new-found
"You don't believe that's really a letter do you?friendship might be the start of an upturn in his life,
Those letters are made up by some guy sitting in aTom casually gets a gun from his truck and robs the
back room. The government puts out that trash toman. "I can't get work," he explains, "I've got no
keep people's minds off their real problems." This ismoney, this (the gun) is all I got left." Then he leads
the nub of Jost's argument; that the media floodsthe man into the woods, and shoots him. The need
society with stories which distract people from theirto align himself with society's media-perpetrated
real problems, and perpetuate dehumanised values, invalues has taken precedence over all human
this case that a wife exists as a sexual object forvalues.The film ends with a long take of Tom's face
her husband, which encourage them to remainas he drives his truck, forcing us to contemplate the
distracted even when the story is forgotten. It ismeaning of what we have just seen. And there is
Jost's contention that Tom, with his lack of intellect,much to contemplate, for, in this film, Jost has
and lack of purpose in his life, is a helpless victim ofproduced a convincing account of how society
such stories.In a later scene Tom spends the nightengenders its own crime, and creates its own
with a girl he meets in a bar. The camera iscriminals.Read the full version of this essay at:
positioned so that, on the right of the screen, weMackean runs the sites which features a substantial
see the couple's legs through an open door, while oncollection of English Literature Resources and Essays,
the left of the screen we see a TV showing a game(and where his site on Short Story Writing can also
show. The scene is in black and white, except,be found), and He is the editor of The Essentials of
strangely, for the TV screen, which is in colour.Literature in English post-1914, published by Hodder
Because of this the distribution of values within theArnold in 2005.
frame is curiously and disturbingly balanced, and, being